Those are givens –– but despite all of us being mobile users (and experts at that), it isn’t always easy to nail a mobile-friendly strategy.

Today, we’ll go through:

The history of mobile ecommerce SEO and websites.

Exactly how to prepare for Google’s Speed Update in July 20109 (or how to buffer yourself from it)

What both Google and consumers consider a mobile-first experience (i.e. seamless and convenient)

What you should look for in ecommerce technology to make sure you aren’t doing all the legwork here

Let’s dive in.

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Five Generations of Mobile Website Development

First Generation: Subdirectories and subdomains, with or without forced redirects.

Back when mobile was an afterthought for most businesses, many chose to go the subdomain route, often using tools to auto-generate a mobile version of their site based on the desktop version.

This is definitely a desktop-first strategy.

Second Generation: Responsive design based on a fluid / stackable grid pattern.

Responsive design filled the gap between desktop and mobile experiences for several years, and is still the go-to solution for most businesses.

No matter what size your screen is, the content will restack and resize to provide a decent visual experience for the users.

However, it is still very much a desktop-first approach to mobile websites.

Third Generation: Responsive web design with Adaptive Logic

This setup typically “adapts” content, features or design for mobile users.

Most use responsive web design as the base, and then customize features for mobile users with client-side JavaScript. You should be able to see missing/added content by viewing the source code if this is the case.

While not a mobile-first approach, it’s definitely a step closer to giving mobile visitors the custom experience they need.

The Rise of Mobile-First Sites

Forward-thinking developers and designers are no longer building for desktop and then adapting that version for mobile. Instead, they’re building for mobile and adapting it for desktop.

Most of the time (so far) we see this being done as a responsive layout with adaptive logic.

A good example of this comes from Zyppah, which shows a “hamburger” style navigation menu and a single-column layout to desktop visitors.

Desktop visitors see a bigger version of the mobile site, complete with the same header-bar offer.

Zyppah desktop view

Sephora goes beyond current best practices on mobile to give visitors an easier way to navigate their site than traditional “hamburger” menus.

Not only can mobile users swipe left or right to see more top-level categories, but the hamburger menu itself reveals a sophisticated mega menu that makes navigating to deep categories on mobile just as easy as it is on desktop.

Sephora combines a mobile-friendly menu with the ‘mega menu’ features their desktop users are familiar with.

Even smaller brands are choosing mobile-first over desktop.

When Brandon Chatham, owner of NatoMounts, went to redesign his site – he refused to settle for a desktop-first version.

Instead, he worked with a designer to first create a mobile version of the site, and then work to create a desktop responsive version.

“Desktop design is such an after the fact. It’s so minimal, these desktop visitors now, that we need to stop making desktop so important,” says Chatham.

“If you look at all your store traffic, I could probably guarantee you that mobile is now over that of desktop. If that’s the case, if 51% or 60% or 70% of all visitors across your website are now on mobile, that should cause a shift for the way your focus your attention.

Fourth Generation: Fully dynamic web design

This is typically accomplished with server-side logic, meaning desktop-only content won’t show up in source-code view on mobile devices, and vice versa.

The main benefit of a fully dynamic website is complete control over the user experience across devices without changing URLs. This is important for obtaining optimal conversion rates across devices.

The biggest drawback of fully dynamic setups has to be the added maintenance. You could be dealing with two completely different websites, but only one URL per page.

This makes design, content production, implementation and upkeep twice as difficult. It also creates unique challenges to SEO, including the use of a Vary: User-Agent response in the HTTP header and the caching difficulties it may create.

Fifth Generation: Single Page Application (SPA) websites

This is where we’re headed.

In fact, many retailers have already gone this route. The image below shows the growth of JavaScript frameworks and libraries by plotting tags on Stack Overflow.

Angular use has skyrocketed since early 2013.

The growth in use of Angular.js is so extreme it obscures the impressive growth other JavaScript technologies have enjoyed:

Javascript technology growth with Angular.js removed.

It will be interesting to see how React.js performs in 2019, judging by the amount of developers switching and migrating from Angular.js to React.js.

There is a big window for React.js to take over the lead with the latest developments in isomorphic JavaScript rendering, which solves a lot of SEO problems around server-side versus client-side rendering.

Currently React.js uses it, but Angular.js does not.

Do You Even Need an “APP” Now?

Vendor-specific app marketplaces like Apple’s iTunes and Google’s G Suite may become obsolete as Apps can be run without downloading them, unlike those found in common app marketplaces.

Develop in Handlebars, Import React Dependencies

Build in Handlebars and Javascript. Import React dependencies. Here’s how you do it.

Google has never officially stated on-site engagement as a ranking fact, but there is data showing a correlation and positive relationship between on-site engagement and SEO ranking.

Historically, AMP usage on individual websites has required brand development and implementation. Now, all themes on BigCommerce have adopted AMP as standard business practice.

“Until now, many ecommerce brands have been unable to adopt AMP into their stores due to excessive coding requirements and lack of costly development resources,” said Ben Moore, CEO at Pixel Union, a leading ecommerce design agency and BigCommerce partner since 2015.

“Today, we are thrilled to be partnering with BigCommerce to offer AMP-enabled ecommerce themes across our entire Pixel Union catalog, giving online merchants a game-changing solution for harnessing the growth of mobile commerce and the power of world-class mobile design.”

Online brands in a closed-beta during the summer of 2017 that utilized AMP on category pages saw, on average, a 20% improvement in click-through rate.

Page Speed seems to play a role in voice SEO (this is great for BigCommerce merchants).

Results are typically secure websites: 70.4% of Google Home result pages are secured with HTTPS.

Google prefers short, concise answers to voice search queries. The typical voice search result is only 29 words in length. But, the average word count of a voice search result page is 2,312 words. Therefore, Google tends to source voice search answers from long form content.

The average Google voice search result is written at a 9th grade reading level.

Content with high levels of social engagement tends to perform well in voice search. In fact, the average voice search result has 1,199 Facebook shares and 44 Tweets.

Appearing in featured snippets may help you rank for voice searches: 40.7% of all voice search answers came from a Featured Snippet. Example below.

It is early in the voice search game, but it is smart to be thinking about it.

To prepare for voice search think about the end user.

What type of questions are they asking?

What types of answers would they find helpful?

Once you identify this, create content that can help answer these questions.

Executive Summary

Smartphone usage continues to grow, so it is natural that Google is focusing on giving mobile users the best possible search experience.

According to Deloitte, in 2017, 93% of people check their mobile phone while shopping and 90% use it during leisure time.

That means that more people are on their phone while shopping than while lounging.

This is why it is important to think about mobile users NOW for your SEO strategy.

Keep up with necessary technical requirements, continue to follow best SEO practices, and always strive to improve user experience and page speed.

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We’re on a mission to provide businesses like yours marketing and sales tips, tricks and industry leading knowledge to build the next house-hold name brand. Don’t miss a post. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.